Search This Blog

Subscribe to this blog

Follow by Email

A Smile

Over the past few months, as I've pulled out of my driveway each morning, I've noticed a lady across the road waiting to be picked up. Even on the coldest, frostiest morning she's been sitting on her fence waiting. Recently I started smiling and waving at her as I've driven past. At first she looked at me with that "Do I know you?" kind of look, but today she waved back.

It's just a little thing, but hopefully it brightened both of our days (I know it did mine).

Several years ago I would often pass a car after I'd dropped my children at school and the driver would smile and wave enthusiastically. At first I thought she must have mistaken me for someone else because she looked so thrilled to see me yet I had no idea who this lady was - as far as I knew, we'd never met. Yet it kept happening. I remember thinking one day, "Lady, I don't know you but I sure wish I did!" I later found out that our children attended the same school, yet we had never spoken to each other. For years afterwards she would wave whenever we saw each other driving around town and it never failed to bring a smile to my face.

It doesn't take much to smile at someone. Even those who are shy and introverted (like myself) can do it. And as Mother Teresa said, "everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing."

Bunches of Yarn, we're okay. We're far enough away to have only been woken from our sleep and not even making the connection until we heard the news. That Christchurch was the one affected is a surprise. Here's a link for those interested: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/image.cfm?c_id=1&gal_objectid=10671050&gallery_id=113677#7073399

Popular posts from this blog

Water. Life-sustaining water. Every living things requires it. Here in the West, a clean supply of drinking water is taken for granted. It's only when we don't have it (as happened recently in a North Island town) that we realise we have come to view clean water as a basic right.

So it seems rather petty to be complaining about the state of our town supply. A First World problem given that it is clean and free of most contaminants. It has not been used for bathing or laundering before reaching us. Animals have not laid dead it in for days. And we're not likely to contract cholera or typhoid fever from drinking it.

It's clean.

But it's also hard. And, at times, heavily chlorinated.

Recently my hair has appeared more dry and brittle than usual. When we first moved here over twenty-one years ago, I complained about the havoc wrecked on my hair and skin by the water. There didn't seem to be anything I could do about it, and so I learnt to live with it. Sure, I ex…

I've finally started knitting socks cuff down after being enamoured with toe up since I began knitting socks several years ago, having overcome at last an irrational fear of knitting the cuff too tight and having to undo the whole sock to make it fit (as opposed to just re-doing the bind off on a toe up). As a result, I've had the opportunity to consider the pros and cons of each method and share them here for your enlightenment ...

Toe Up can be tried on as it is worked which makes determining where to start the heel easy enough if you know how many rows it takes; since the sole is usually not worked in the instep pattern it's easy to determine 'sole' and 'instep' and hence when a new round commences; the length of the leg is easily adjusted for preference (and dependent on amount of wool left); it can incorporate a short row toe which I love (partly I think because of the marvel of creating something 'in the round' when knitting back and forth on…

The plan was to take an honorary long weekend and head to sunny Gisborne for a few days. Sun we saw on the long drive to and fro, but during our time there, Gisborne failed to live up to its reputation.

Still, there are some advantages to getting away mid-winter. Such as:

Spectacular scenery ...

Experiencing sights at their worst and still finding them breath-taking ...

Welcome to my Blog. I'm "Jules": Christian, wife, mother, grandmother, early childhood teacher, writer, wannabe musician, quilter, and knitter. Born in Australia, I now make my home in New Zealand where I enjoy spending time outdoors and with my family, which now includes five handsome sons, three beautiful daughters-in-law, and seven absolutely gorgeous granddaughters.